Pythagoras was a word that I first heard when I was in math class in school. Of course, it's more than a word. It's a name. It's hard to put a face to a name, though, when the name was given to a boy born in 608 B.C. Unless you're on the internet, or my blog right now, when you can see it below.
I'd thought up until recently that Pythagoras was all about triangles and the angles of them. I was wrong. For whatever reason - that was simply all I was taught about him. Now, you can find Pythagoras being called a 'word influencer', cult leader and all-round great bloke - amongst lots of other things. I guess he can be firmly called a philomath turned polymath.
What did Pythagoras care about?
Pythagoras sought to free the human mind from political rigidity, religious confinement and all other forms of dogma that are not too different to those that we're enslaved by in the modern era - whether we're conscious to it or not. He first approached this with his own philomath practices - breaking his own mind from the mould of rigidity and status quo. Then, what do the greats do once they've done that to an ample amount and feel lonely, unimpactful and fear become an irrelevant recluse? They begin to teach.
Pythagoras gathered about him an ever-increasing number of students who also aspired towards personal independence, intellectual sovereignty and, of course, to pursue the discovery of the meaning of life. The essence of Pythagors' teachings was enshrined in his axiom -
"Know thyself, then thou shalt know the universe and God."
- Pythagoras
In Crotona, a Greek colony in the south of Italy circa ~ 532 B.C., Pythagoras founded his own university. Admission was open to all who sincerely sought to learn. There was no distinction or discrimination between sex, race, colour or creed. The only rule of admission being essentially "can you, and will you, commit to intense study?" I guess it was a simpler time without the societal pressure to instate an admissions committee that would inform Pythagoras whether they had hit their diversity inclusion and equality quota in Q2, or not.
What was taught at Pythagoras' university?
You remember big P? He loved triangles? Great. Well, then you can presume his university 'course' was split into three parts of a curriculum, right? Correct. What you might not have presumed, though, was that the major course taught was self development. The curriculum to Pythagoras' university self development course went as follows:
The first trimester and the primary component to Pythagoras' self development course
The primary component was known as "Preparation." It consisted of intensive training in the "ten mathematical disciplines," designed to provide the student with "empire over the self."
The second trimester of Pythagoras' self development course
The second trimester was called "Purification." Its essence was the understanding of life, its purpose and how to work in harmony with that purpose, as taught through the "Science of Numbers," more commonly known today as numerology.
The third and final trimester of Pythagoras' self development course
In the final trimester, students were taught the concept of "Perfection." Perfection embraces the integration of the physical, mental and spiritual components of each person and of life.